South West Florida (Behind friendly lines but still in Occupied Territory)

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Election Day 2012 - New Black Panthers Back At Polling Places In Philadelphia

Election Day 2012 - New Black Panthers Back At Polling Places In Philadelphia

Is this Ground Hogs Day all over again 2008? These Inspectors are election officials -- again, court appointed — and are reportedly being thrown out by the Head Judges of Elections (these Judges are elected Democrats).

South West Florida (Behind friendly lines but still in Occupied Territory)

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Tea Party Poll Watchers Rejected ....

Posted by Darla Dawald, National Director on November 6, 2012 at 2:01pm in Patriot Action AlertsView DiscussionsTrue the Vote- a tea party linked group were rejected from poll watching in Ohio County by County Officials. Officials questioned the manner in which they were going to apply monitoring the poll. This isn't the first case we have heard of this happening and I am sure by the end of the day it won't be the last.

Catherine Engelbrecht, president of True the Vote, told the Dispatch that the rejection was “a final, desperate attempt to deny citizens their right to observe elections.”

“The Ohio Democratic Party has projected paranoia on an international scale by promoting the idea that concerned citizens would dare observe elections to ensure a fair process,” Engelbrecht said in a statement. “If the Ohio Democratic Party thinks True the Vote-trained poll watchers are legion, wait until it meets our lawyers.”

True the Vote volunteers in Columbus contacted by The Washington Post on Tuesday morning did not return requests for comment.

In a recent interview with The Post, Engelbrecht rejected suggestions that her Houston-based group – which has reportedly recruited millions of volunteers – would attempt to intimidate or attempt to raise questions about the validity of African-American and Latino voters.

“Contrary to various interest groups’ statements, True the Vote has never been investigated or charged with intimidating voters,” Engelbrecht told The Post. “A poll watcher’s sole purpose is to monitor the process of our elections. They are trained to never speak with voters, only authorities within the poll.”

But people who complained to the Franklin County Board of Elections about the group said True the Vote volunteers were told at recent training sessions to use cameras to intimidate voters when they enter the polling place, record their names on tablet computers and attempt to stop questionably qualified voters before they could get to a voting machine, the Dispatch reported.

''It's already started and it's busy," said Barbara Arnwine, president of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

In Philadelphia, the Republican Party said 75 legally credentialed voting inspectors were removed from polling places in the heavily Democratic city, prompting the GOP to seek a court order providing them access. Local prosecutors were also looking into the reports.

Democratic Party officials did not immediately return a message seeking comment.The battleground state of Ohio was the scene of yet another court battle, this one involving a lawsuit claiming voting software installed by the state could allow manipulation of ballots by non-election board officials. The lawsuit wants a judge to order Ohio not to use the software — something state elections officials said would "unnecessarily thwart the smooth operation of the election."

Remember to report any poll issues to the County Officials.ABC states:

Last week John R. Phillippe, Jr., chief counsel the RNC, wrote a letter to several states expressing concern with reports that voting machine errors were occurring. He asked the states to take action.

"I understand that, in a significant number of cases, voting machines in your states have populated a vote for Barack Obama when a voter cast his or her ballot for Mitt Romney," Phillippe wrote.

Partisans have already spent months fighting over voter regulations in the courts of key states. They have waged war on issues such as the hours for early vote, voter registration and Voter ID.

Some of the best appellate lawyers in the country—many who worked on legal issues during the 2000 campaign – are poised to hop a plane at a moment's notice as the situation warrants.

Get out the vote friends. Report anything suspicious. Above all else pray.God Bless,Darla Dawald, National Director

South West Florida (Behind friendly lines but still in Occupied Territory)

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Voting glitches from Black Panthers to removal of GOP election judges

By Curt Anderson November 6, 2012 12:58 pm WASHINGTON (AP) - Sporadic problems were reported Tuesday at polling places around the country, including a confrontation in Pennsylvania involving Republican inspectors over access to some polls and a last-minute court fight in Ohio over election software. One Florida elections office mistakenly told voters in robocalls the election was on Wednesday.

Although the majority of complaints were simply long lines, the Election Protection coalition of civil rights and voting access groups said they had gotten some more serious calls among more than 35,000 received on a toll-free voter protection hotline.

""It's already started and it's busy," said Barbara Arnwine, president of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

In Philadelphia, the Republican Party said 75 legally credentialed voting inspectors were removed from polling places in the heavily Democratic city, prompting the GOP to seek a court order providing them access. Local prosecutors were also looking into the reports. Democratic Party officials did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

The battleground state of Ohio was the scene of yet another court battle, this one involving a lawsuit claiming voting software installed by the state could allow manipulation of ballots by non-election board officials. The lawsuit wants a judge to order Ohio not to use the software - something state elections officials said would "unnecessarily thwart the smooth operation of the election."

The Florida robocall glitch occurred in Pinellas County, location of St. Petersburg and Tampa Bay.

Officials said the calls intended for Monday were wrongly recycled Tuesday, telling possibly thousands of voters they had until "7 p.m. tomorrow" to vote, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Nancy Whitlock, spokeswoman for the county's supervisor of elections, said officials immediately stopped the calls Tuesday morning when the problem was discovered and a second message went out telling voters to disregard the previous call.

Elsewhere, the Election Protection coalition reported problems with ballot scanners in the Ohio cities of Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo; late-opening polling places in minority neighborhoods in Galveston, Texas; and some precincts in the Tampa, Fla., area where voters are being redirected to another polling place where they must cast a provisional ballot.

Meanwhile, voters in several storm-ravaged areas in New York and New Jersey expressed relief and even elation at being able to vote at all, considering the devastation from Superstorm Sandy. Lines were long in Point Pleasant, N.J., where residents from the Jersey Shore communities of Point Pleasant Beach and Mantoloking had to cast their ballots due to damage in their hometowns. Many people still have no power eight days after Sandy pummeled the shore.

"Nothing is more important than voting. What is the connection between voting and this?" said Alex Shamis, a resident of hard-hit Staten Island, gesturing to his mud-filled home.

Any voting problems are being closely monitored after months of legal and political battles over more voter ID restrictions and other laws, mostly fruitless hunts for supposedly ineligible people on voting rolls in many states and sustained claims that black and Hispanic voters are being targeted for intimidation and suppression.

Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, said even in states where the restrictive laws have been blocked or delayed, many people still think they are in effect.

"The laws were struck down but the confusion remains," Waldman said.

Many of these issues could resurface in the courts after Tuesday, particularly if the race between President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, is too close to call or heads for a recount in states such as Ohio or Florida.

The Justice Department will have at least 780 observers at key polling places in 23 states to ensure compliance with the 1965 Voting Rights Act and look into any allegations of voter fraud.

Provisional ballots were the latest legal skirmish in the critical battleground state of Ohio, where Secretary of State Jon Husted's decision on how they can be cast was challenged in federal court. Advocates and lawyers for labor unions contend Husted's order would lead to some provisional ballots being rejected improperly because the burden of recording the form of ID used on a provisional ballot is being placed on voters, not poll workers as in the past.

A provisional vote allows a person to have his or her say, but the ballot is subject to review and verification of eligibility.

A decision was not expected before Election Day, but the judge overseeing the case planned a ruling before Nov. 17, when provisional ballots can begin to be counted in Ohio. Provisional ballots are used more often in Ohio than in most states, with experts predicting between 200,000 and 300,000 will be cast there.

"That could be a huge problem after Election Day for counting ballots," said Wendy Weiser, director of the Brennan Center's Democracy Program. "There's really tens of thousands of voters in Ohio whose votes could be at risk."---Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers A.J. Connelly in New York, Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus, Ohio, and Patrick Walters in Philadelphia.----GOPUSA Editor's Note: There are reports of Black Panthers at polling stations in Philly as well as Obama posters in another polling place. The photo at the top of this article is of an election judge in Chicago wearing an Obama hat.

New Black Panthers patrol polling location in 2008 carrying a nightstick and blocking a doorway

The head of the controversial New Black Panther Party, Malik Zulu Shabazz, wasn’t kidding when he told WND’s Aaron Klein in September that his group would again deploy outside voting booths today – to prevent “intimidation against our people,” he said – and sure enough, the New Black Panthers are out today in force.

Including Jerry Jackson.

Jackson, some may recall, was one of the two New Black Panther Party members charged in what is widely considered the most egregious case of voter intimidation in modern times, when he and “Minister King Samir Shabazz” (aka Maurice Heath), the party’s Philadelphia leader, were videotaped on Election Day 2008 wearing paramilitary uniforms, carrying a nightstick and blocking a doorway to a polling location to intimidate voters.

As WND reported, Samir Shabazz was also noteworthy for having said on video: “You want freedom? You’re gonna have to kill some crackers! You’re gonna have to kill some of their babies!”

In a surprise decision that caused career DOJ attorneys to quit, the Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder’s leadership decided against prosecuting the case, thus inviting today’s encore appearances.

New Black Panther Jerry Jackson at Philadelphia polling site (Photo: Victor Fiorillo for The Philly Post)

Jackson, was reported by Fox News as being seen this morning “outside a North Philadelphia voting site wearing the group’s trademark black beret, combat-style uniform and heavy boots. Fox News confirmed he is a designated poll watcher.”

Also in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, a judge issued an order earlier today that Republican election officials across Philadelphia who had been ejected or refused entry by on-site Democratic voting chief judges had to be reinstated.

According to one GOP official, “just under 70″ Republican election officials had been prevented from entering the Philly polling sites this morning by Democrats. One had reportedly been “shoved out of the polling place.”

“For this many inspectors to be ejected from polling places is rare, even for Philadelphia,” the official told FoxNews.com.

Mural of Obama at Philadelphia polling site before and after it was partially covered following a judge's orders

The same report noted that a giant mural of President Obama adorned the wall inside a Philadelphia polling place. And although a judge subsequently ordered the Obama mural be covered up “in its entirety,” poll workers instead “slapped up a few pieces of paper that only partially covered his image,” Fox reported, “while leaving the Obama campaign logo and a quote from the current president in full view for voters.”

The judge’s order came in response to complaints from GOP officials that the mural – which featured the words “Hope” and “Change” – might influence voters at the polling site, a school in Ward 35.

“It is an absolute disgrace,” said Shannon Royer, deputy secretary for external affairs and elections in Pennsylvania, according to the Fox report. “Election materials and electioneering inside the polling place are prohibited by state law. This can be interpreted as trying to influence voters inside the polling place.”

According to Pennsylvania election law, “no person within a polling place may electioneer or solicit votes for any political party, political body, or candidate, nor may any unauthorized written or printed materials be posted within the polling place.”

Election judge wears Obama hat

In Obama’s home turf of Chicago, a voter at the Ward 4, Precinct 37 polling place (1212 South Plymouth Court, Chicago), photographed “an election judge checking in voters while wearing an Obama hat.”

According to the Weekly Standard posting, “The voter who took the photo says: ‘Woman in front of me also given an extra ballot.’”

And in the state many consider to be ground zero in today’s election – Ohio – reports of foul play, or at least fears of it, are surfacing:

“This is a final, desperate attempt to deny citizens their right to observe elections,” said True The Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht, warning her group would be taking legal action. “The Ohio Democratic Party has projected paranoia on an international scale by promoting the idea that concerned citizens would dare observe elections to ensure a fair process. If the Ohio Democratic Party thinks True the Vote-trained poll watchers are legion, wait until it meets our lawyers.”

Meanwhile, author and vote-fraud expert John Fund has big-time concerns about voter fraud today. In an interview with WND, Fund – author of “Who’s Counting?: How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk” – cited the nonpartisan Pew Research Center’s disturbing findings that there are 2 million dead people on America’s voting rolls, 1 out of 8 voter registrations are either invalid or contain major errors, and 4 million voters are registered in more than one state.

“We have a lot of underbrush,” Fund told WND. “And when you have underbrush you’re going to have fires, and I fear we’re going to have a fraud fire.”

Indeed, in North Carolina, PJ Media reports that one “Andrew Gail Holmes voted early in Sampson County, North Carolina, and then appeared at their precinct today to vote again, according to the staff director of the Sampson County Board of Elections, Donna Mashburn.”

“We have a gentleman who had early voted,” Mashburn said, “and went to his precinct to vote. We are aware of it.”